1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a soft sculpture toy apparatus, and in particular, relates to one such soft sculpture toy apparatus having one or more storage slots for storing compact discs, books and cassette tapes, one or more toy storage cavities and a satchel for storing and transporting the apparatus and a plurality of toys.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For a long time, toys have been used with books as teaching aids. Forming a natural combination, toys can be used to reinforce and almost bring to life a particular theme taught in a book. Because of children's seemingly natural fondness for stuffed animals, they are particularly well suited for use with books. Even a simple stuffed animal version of a character in a book can have great teaching benefits. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,608,024 issued to Skolnick on Aug. 26, 1986, discloses a book with an attached puppet, which can be concealed inside and used with the book. The puppet can be used by a teacher to tell the story taught by the book. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,365,438 issued to Nelson on Dec. 28, 1982, discloses a combination toy and book wherein the toy can be used with each page of the book, each page having graphical material which cooperates with the toy. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 4,874,340 issued to Smallwood on Oct. 17, 1990, discloses a stuffed animal book where a book is held inside stuffed animal halves. Toys have also been used with greeting cards to emphasize a particular theme. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,152,865 issued to Ikeda on May 8, 1979, discloses a greeting card with a holding toy. The card has a cutout section for attaching a stuffed animal having spring loaded limbs.
"Soft sculpture" toys have also been used with books as teaching aids. Soft sculpture toys have a pliable or flexible outer shell with enough structural rigidity to be free standing. The outer shell is typically made of fabric, rubber or plastic, although a variety of other materials have also been used. Those having an outer shell of fabric usually have some kind of stuffing such as foam or batting to provide shape and structural strength. Soft sculpture toys can be a small, individual character or a much larger character or structure such as a dinosaur or house.
Historically, the toy industry has been fertile ground for the application of new technology. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,484,895 issued to Links on Oct. 18, 1949, discloses an educational toy book which includes a story, doll and music. The story is read to music as a child plays with the doll. More recently, the introduction of compact discs, CD ROMs and multi-media technology has revolutionized the toy industry and opened up new opportunities in the education and entertainment fields. Now, many book and toy combinations are accompanied by a compact disc or CD ROM which can provide spoken words, music as well as sophisticated graphics. However, there is still a need to support the large base of customers who do not have this newer technology. Consequently, it is not uncommon to find a toy being sold with a book, compact disc and/or a cassette tape. Unfortunately, although these items may be sold together, they are usually separate items without a common storage methodology making it difficult to keep them together, especially when more and more toys are sold with CDs, CD ROMs and cassette tapes.
There have been some advances in common storage techniques. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,059,149 issued to Stone on Oct. 22, 1991, discloses a stuffed animal apparatus including one or more storage compartments in which books may be stored. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,505,141 issued to Schwartz on Mar. 31, 1970, discloses an instruction book with recesses for holding a cassette tape. However, none of these inventions provide a means for storing compact discs, books, cassette tapes and toys together in one apparatus. Consequently, there is a need for a soft sculpture toy apparatus having the capability to store compact discs, books, cassette tapes, or the like, and toys. Such a toy apparatus would be particularly useful in an educational environment where several such apparatuses having different themes are used and stored in the same room. Each apparatus could include, as part of its story, instructions on how to remove and use the compact disc or cassette tape and toys, as well as instructions for returning these items to the apparatus when the lesson is finished.